Joe’s research is interdisciplinary and combines insights and interests from the fields of information science, sociology, and journalism. Please check out his CV for a complete list of publications and presentations.
Institutions and Activism
Joe’s current research interests are deeply informed by his experiences on the frontlines of various activist causes. Immediately apparent to him was the toll that political and social upheaval has on those working in institutions. As such, a primary question at issue is: How do activism-oriented professionals within institutions navigate the fraught experience of being in conflict with political pressures and at times with their own institutional structures? How does this pressure impact activists’ seeking of information? How do the feedback loops between institutions, for example, between libraries and news coverage of book bans, impact the way that activists maintain identity and reinforce it in the course of performing their work? Joe’s research uses a narrative theoretical methodology to live alongside those working in institutions who make efforts to reform and counter institutional failings (Clandinin, 2013). His approach also relies on emergent coding of interviews utilizing modified grounded theory methodologies(Creswell & Poth, 2018). Joe uses Shoemaker and Reese’s (2014) Hierarchy of Influences model adapted from media sociology as a starting point to understand the sociological interdependency of institutional and personal interactions across various organizational strata, including libraries. His dissertation looks at library workers who are advocating for professional ethics around intellectual freedom in the face of countervailing institutional pressures from government, the press, and even within management levels in their own institutions. Below are some examples of his work on this burgeoning idea, which will be drawn together in his dissertation.
Brannon, B, Bossaller, J, Dickey, TJ, Hajibayova, L, Kohlburn, J, Oltmann, SM, and Smith, AJM. “Banned. Challenged, Questioned, or Lost? Information Access and the Path to an Information-Resilient Society.” Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology 59 (1), 548-550.October 31, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.623
Fromm, M, Kohlburn, J, Gregory, J, and Farid Johnson, N. Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools. Media Literacy Week, NAMLE. October 25, 2022.
Kohlburn, J. (2023). At What Cost?: Missouri Librarians and the Struggle for Intellectual Freedom, The Reference Librarian 64 (2). DOI: 10.1080/02763877.2023.2211059
Kohlburn, J and T Gomillion. (2020). That’s just the way it is: How to challenge conventional wisdom and promote inclusion in libraries. In Christine Bombaro (Ed.) (1st ed., pp 43-57) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Action: Planning, Leadership, and Programming. ALA Editions.
Libraries and Public Health
As a parallel to Joe’s work on institutions and activism, he has collaborated on research with colleagues at University of Missouri around the responses of public libraries to the COVID-19 pandemic. The clearly conflicting political goals and institutional inertia around dealing with COVID-19 pointed out by participants in this work has implications for other contemporary political issues that impact libraries. Emergent data from participants indicates that even librarians who are not activists (or don’t consider themselves to be) are still impacted by social and political forces acting upon libraries and library workers. These forces sometimes make adhering to one’s professional ethics a political act in itself. Joe’s work includes surveys and semi-structured interviews of library managers asking how they dealt with the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience of doing this research has inspired Joe to look into the ways in which library workers relate to their institutions, systems of information distribution within government, and other professional and institutional systems (e.g. medical community, news media). Below are some examples of his work on libraries and public health:
Bossaller, J., Adkins, D., & J. Kohlburn. Know and Go: Using open science to deal with the next health crisis. Amigos Library Services via Big Blue Button. March 20, 2023.
Kohlburn, J, Bossaller, J, Cho, H, Moulaison-Sandy, H, and D. Adkins (2023). Public Libraries and COVID: Perceptions and Politics in the United States. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community Policy 93 (1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1086/722547
Bossaller, J, Kohlburn, K, Cho, H, Moulaison-Sandy, H, and D Adkins. (2022). Health Information Needs of Public Library Leaders during COVID-19. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology 59(1), 410-414. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.643
Popular Media and Identity
This research constellation contains a number of at-first-glance unrelated elements that hang together with uses and gratification theory (Rubin, 2009). The way that game players, consumers of news media, popular fiction, comix and other popular media actively engage with popular culture demonstrates the possibilities of both media and information seeking processes. For example, his recent research into the way that players describe and contextualize LGBTQ+ identity in choosing and playing video games reveals much about both what games best meet players’ needs, as well as how players understand multiple related and interconnected identities around their sexuality, gender, interests, and political stances. This research also relates to how individuals see themselves reflected within organizational systems of knowledge, and thus institutions. For example, because cataloging systems lack robust methods for indexing nuanced LGBTQ+ identity in books or games, it is difficult for users to connect to those resources, or to feel institutional belonging and care. Joe’s research relies on both textual analysis of online gamer communities (on the Steam platform), as well as semi-structured interviews with participants about their own preferences and experiences. The projects and publications below have a common point of departure in that they rely on the assumption that consumers of media, whatever kind, pursue material based on intentional information seeking that reflects particular social, emotional, and even physical needs. Joe is currently working on two additional studies about popular media and culture, including an exploration of Webtoons well as a qualitative study of how gamers use games to meet emotional needs.
Kohlburn, J., Cho, H., & Moore, H. (2022). Players’ perceptions of sexuality and gender-inclusive video games a pragmatic content analysis of steam reviews. Convergence. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221137481
Cho, H, Lee, WC, Huang, C and J Kohlburn. (2022). User-centered categorization of mood in fiction. Journal of Documentation, (Ahead of print). https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2022-0071
References
Clandinin, D.J. (2013). Engaging in narrative inquiry. New York, NY: Routledge.
Creswell, J.W., and Poth, C.N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. 4th Ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Rubin, A. (2009) Uses and gratifications: An evolving theory in media effects. In: R Nabi, M Oliver (eds). The SAGE handbook of media processes and effects. India: SAGE Editions, pp. 147–160.
Shoemaker, P., & S. Reese. (2014). Mediating the Message in the 21st Century: A Media Sociology Perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.
Joe Kohlburn's ePortfolio 